


child of the sun and endless skies

by Anonymous



Series: heavy is the crown [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: /?/, Angst, idk - Freeform, part one to a probs long series :), there isnt much yet so its hard to tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2021-02-13 12:09:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21494062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Jisung is unsure whether he wants to cry or run himself off the island’s edge.
Series: heavy is the crown [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1549237
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1
Collections: Anonymous





	child of the sun and endless skies

Alrudum was beautiful, much like the rest of the Ettven Isles, floating hundreds of miles above the earth like a sacred stairwell to the gods.

A holy land, unconquerable and unattainable to anything but the divine.

There has only been one god to step foot on the Ettven Isles... She was known then as Freya, the Queen of Kings.

She had arrived centuries ago, as a one-man army, long before the Isles were populated by any more than a single clan.

She rose from the drowned nation of Naiya, with an offer of prosperity and goodwill-- an offer that was foolish to turn away.

But there is always a cost to kindness... and Freya’s price doesn't arrive till much much later.

ooo

Jisung was born and raised on Alrudum of the Ettven Isles where there was nothing above but the sun and an endless sky.

He grew up breathing in high altitudes and winds from a thousand fronts. His childhood was filled playing kings and dragons underneath the heavens and sleeping beneath the glow of a million stars.

At the young age of ten, Jisung never thought that he would ever leave his home, where he ran about freely through rivers of magic and forests of blessings with his siblings.

But how wrong he was.

Tonight, he will lose his entire world just to appease a centuries old promise to a god who hasn’t set foot on the Isles in the last decade.

The arrangements have long been finalized and Jisung’s never had a right to object... not when he owes his entire life to the Queen’s trade. 

There was never room for turning back and Jisung must accept his destiny; for his family, for his people, and for his nation.

ooo

Jisung’s unsure whether he wants to cry or run himself off the island’s edge.

He resented the Queen and her unquestionable rulings. He despised his fate and everything connected to it. It was unfair to steal him from the comfort of Alrudum one of the few islands that drifted high above darkened clouds.

_ How lucky, the child has been blessed with the chance to meet the savior and entrusted with the chance to attain an a thousand year throne. _The maids would gossip behind their hands as Jisung passed them in the lord’s mansion. 

How _ blessed he was _ indeed. Blessed to a life of riches and finery. 

But they don't know Jisung. They don't know the price of the Queen's blessing.

The maids know nothing and they’ll never know anything. They’ll never understand the things Jisung has learned in the last few days, the secret dealings whispered to him by the priest.

After tonight, Jisung’s life will no longer be his own. He'll lose his title an Ettvenian child and his 

He is forbidden from visiting family and returning to the Isles of Ettven.

He is behind in his studies because Ettven lacks in education and must learn till he can spell every nation on the map forward and backwards.

He must be unproblematic and charismatic to a point.

He mustn’t run away or leave without permission.

He mustn’t trust anyone but himself and the queen.

He cannot touch another person.

He mustn’t _ fall in love _.

The priest told him of so many rules. So many things to remember. So many things he would love to ignore but cannot because the priest promises punishment on his sisters for misbehavior.

Jisung loves every one of his six sisters who danced under five moons with him when they were less shackled down by responsibility. He cannot hurt them, he cannot bare the thought of hurting them-- indirectly or directly. 

Jisung had always been such a free spirit but now, his feet are bound together and his hands are chained behind his back. 

Suddenly, Jisung, child of Alrudum, feels so small and alone because, suddenly, Jisung, child of the sun and endless skies, has been cast to the ground where thick clouds block even the deepest of blues.

ooo

Jisung stares at himself in the mirror. 

He notices the golds. Everyone else will notice it too with the way it’s been threaded through his short hair and painted across his eye lids.

Jisung’s practically been drowned in luxuries with small rhinestones embroidered into the pearly fabric of his traditional chiton and jewelry dangling from every piece of exposed skin., the riches lain against his flesh shimmer like diamonds underneath the faerie lights strung through the building for the sole purpose of festivities, complementing the sun kissed glow of his now flawless skin. 

Jisung isn’t a vain person at heart, but he can’t help but be mesmerized. The person that stares back at him isn’t familiar. The reflection that speaks to him is someone he never thought would exist underneath unprotected skin. 

Gone is the sunburnt child with dark unruly hair and scared cheekbones. Instead, Jisung sees a boy with platinum hair and eyes as clear as the skies above Alrudum. 

What he sees is someone befitting of the title of a prince.

The thought disturbs the anxieties balled up in his chest and he feels on the verge of a mental breakdown. 

_ He didn't want to be a prince or a child of the queen. _He wanted to remain here, at home, where his elder sister would kiss him upon the forehead and sing a lullaby before bed.

But, Jisung manages to keep it all in because his refuses to have his last moments as a child of Etaven be tainted by tear stained cheeks and feelings of abandonment.

No one has abandoned him but it certainly feels like it. 

Jisung, a child of the Etaven Isles, born and raised under a burning sun and endless sky, will be sent off tonight like a caught and caged bird. And how depressing, it’s almost as if he’s been laid out like an offering, decorated in extravagant detail, to be sent off to a god-- a god who hasn’t bothered to step foot in Jisung’s motherlands in the last century. 

ooo

Jisung feels out of place, surrounded by people dressed in the thin cottons of Ettven day wear, while he moves about covered in finery found only in the Great Winchestain Estate.

The people of the Ettven Isles part for him like a curtain, some bowing on the side, for him--a Queen’s Child--as if he wasn’t one of theirs just a short four days ago.

Jisung bites back his frown, turning his attention away from the unwanted stares as his mother pushes her way towards him, also dressed in her best clothing.

“I’m so proud of you.” is the first thing she says, wrapping Jisung in her arms.

The statement immediately makes him uncomfortable because he knows he’s done nothing to win her praise. Because he was simply a _ lucky _ boy whose name was drawn from a thousand other in a lottery.

Wisely, instead of responding, Jisung smiles and hugs his mother back, choosing to remain silent, simmering in bitterness. He has found, there is no truthful way to respond to his mother’s words.

His entire life, his mother has always been a distant entity, never around to provide him with the attention he craved, always away caring for his other siblings instead. 

Yet suddenly, when he’s burning under a vibrant spotlight, she finds value in him. Suddenly, when he could possibly sit upon a throne, he is worthy of her attention.

But that’s not the root of Jisung’s greatest disappointment. 

The thing that cut the deepest chasm in his fragile heart was how _ easily _ his mother is letting him leave. 

How easily his _ mother _ handed him over to the Queen like a basket of bread, _ knowing _ the conditions of the arrangement, _ knowing _ that Jisung will never be allowed back home again.

So yes, he’s rightfully bitter.

But Jisung is smart, choosing to internalize all his anger instead of letting it all blow up. Because, as the priest has said, Jisung is a Queen’s Child, born under an endless sky and a thousand stars, unproblematic and charismatic to a point.

Because he is a Queen’s Child and a Queen’s Child must always act in a manner that is forgiving and kind.

(But Jisung childish mind is not forgiving or kind and his twisted and scarred heart has not stopped bleeding quite yet.)

ooo

The festival ends uneventfully for Jisung.

He is thrown about, forced to interact with intimidating elder men from islands that weren’t his own, all of them seeking to gain his favor in the event that he may become king.

The priest had warned him of all the superficial greetings and Jisung wished that the ceremony could have been more like the birthday party his family had prepared for his elder sister a short few months before, without the unwanted eyes of everyone in the land upon him.

But again, Jisung has never had a choice, so he carries on, hands wrung in the fabric of his attire, but head held high because he refuses falter in front of the people of his homeland.

But, before the ceremony ends, Jisung is abruptly ushered into an expensive looking carriage by the prist to be whisked away from the island.

It comes at a surprise because he’d thought he’d have a little more time.

He thought he could take a last walk to an Ettven island’s edge and look down at the blur of greens hundreds of miles below. But Jisung miscalculated and he doesn’t get the chance, not even one to bid farewell to the siblings that raised him and, although very much less regretfully, his unworthy mother.

Suddenly, Jisung is alone again, trapped in a locked floating container, the adrenaline of festivities fading and reality sinking in once more.

And finally, Jisung allows himself to crumple for the first time this week, in this small cabin, the weight of the world sitting on his ten-year-old shoulders.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I've been planning this series for a while! 
> 
> I'm not very good at writing multi-chaptered fics so I've decided to do this in a non-linear narrative and jump between point of views a lot OTL
> 
> It may be a little confusing at first, but everything will start to make more sense latter! 
> 
> There will be ships too!


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